The Associated Press | FILE - In this Dec. 8, 2010 file photo German Chancellor Angela Merkel, right, and Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, left, brief the media after a meeting at the chancellery in Berlin. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called off a trip to Algeria at the last minute Monday Feb. 20, 2017 because long-ailing Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika is too sick to meet her. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber,file)

The Associated Press | FILE - In this April 28, 2014 file photo, Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, sitting in a wheelchair, applauds after taking the oath as President in Algiers. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called off a trip to Algeria at the last minute because long-ailing Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika is too sick to meet her. (AP Photo/Sidali Djarboub, File)

The Associated Press | FILE - In this Dec. 8, 2010 file photo German Chancellor Angela Merkel, center, and Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, left, listen to the national anthems during the welcoming ceremony at the chancellery in Berlin. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called off a trip to Algeria at the last minute Monday Feb. 20, 2017 because long-ailing Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika is too sick to meet her. (AP Photo/Shane McMillan,file)

The Associated Press | File - In this Dec. 8, 2010 file photo, Algeria's President Abdelaziz Bouteflika briefs the media after a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the chancellery in Berlin. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called off a trip to Algeria at the last minute Monday Feb. 20, 2017 because long-ailing Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika is too sick to meet her. (AP Photo/Shane McMillan, file)

Merkel's Algeria visit canceled because president falls ill

Monday February 20, 2017 12:17 PM

The Associated Press

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — An attack of severe bronchitis suffered by long-ailing Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika forced his country to call off a visit by German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the last minute on Monday.

The surprise cancellation was announced just an hour before Merkel's plane was due to take off from Berlin, and as German flags already lined the Algiers airport for her arrival.

Merkel's spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said "the Algerian government asked at short notice for the trip to be delayed. The chancellor complied with this wish."

Algeria's APS state news agency, citing a presidential statement, said Bouteflika's "temporary unavailability" was due to severe bronchitis. Bouteflika, 79, has rarely been seen in public since a 2013 stroke that left him confined to a wheelchair.

The two leaders had been scheduled to meet only briefly on Tuesday, shortly before Merkel's departure for home. Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal was to have been Merkel's main government interlocutor and host during the two-day visit that had been scheduled to start Monday evening.

Both sides had seen it as an important visit. Merkel wants better cooperation in limiting migration from Africa to Europe and the extremist violence that has hit Europe, such as the December attack on Berlin by a Tunisian migrant claimed by the Islamic State group.